EIU Media Relations

EIU 'Fright Night' Concert: Music, Lincoln Tribute, Costume Contest, More

The Eastern Symphony Orchestra's "Fright Night" concert will add a children's string band, as well as a 200th anniversary tribute to Abraham Lincoln, to its annual concert, costume contest and more.

The concert is to begin at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, in the Doudna Fine Arts Center's Dvorak Concert Hall on the Eastern Illinois University campus.

The Eastern Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Richard Robert Rossi, will be joined by the Bow-Dacious String Band, a Champaign-Urbana-based children's ensemble directed by Robin Kearton.

To mark the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, local Abraham Lincoln presenter Joseph Woodard will recite Lincoln’s second inaugural address. The ensembles will then perform "A Lincoln Portrait" by Aaron Copland with accompanying narration, comprised of Lincoln's own words, read by Jason Garrett.

The concert will also feature the world premiere performance of "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror" by D. Trent Mason, an EIU graduate student in composition. The music was composed to director F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent film of the same name.

As always, children are encouraged to participate in the Halloween costume contest. The Eastern Symphony Orchestra will provide candy and lots of frightening fun.

The Eastern Symphony Orchestra, part of the EIU Department of Music, is sponsored in part by the Charleston Area Charitable Foundation.

Tickets -- $12 for the general public, $10 for senior citizens and EIU employees, and $5 for students -- may be purchased at the door. Advance tickets are available in the Doudna Fine Arts Center box office (217-581-3110) from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, or one hour before each performance. Tickets may also be reserved via email at doudnatix@eiu.edu.

The Doudna Fine Arts Center, a division of EIU's College of Arts and Humanities, is located one block west of Ninth Street at Garfield Avenue in Charleston.

For more information, visit the website at http://www.eiu.edu/doudna.